The Roundup for April 9, 2012

I had thought I would be traveling this week to Pittsburgh to report from one of the first in a series of spring shareholder activism events, this one against Bank of New York Mellon. However, they changed the dates of the meeting and I can no longer attend. But expect some coverage of that event tomorrow. Shareholder activism will be a big story in the next few months.

Other housekeeping news: my panel on foreclosure fraud for June’s Netroots Nation conference has been accepted. More on that in the coming days.

• Kent Conrad stated the obvious, that there would be no budget before the election, meaning that continuing resolutions would be the only way to avoid a government shutdown after September 30.

• I kind of can’t believe that Eric Cantor would be this stupid. If there’s one word to define Cantor, it’s “careerist.” So why would someone who wants to lead the House GOP caucus donate to an anti-incumbent PAC? All the people he wants to lead are incumbents!

• This story on the progressive youth grassroots revolution is a little too optimistic for my taste. It does speak to the cultural v. economic liberalism divide, however, as most of the organizing in the piece is of the cultural variety.

• Hopefully the primary fight in the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall will not be so contentious. At least the first ad of the campaign, from former Dane County executive Kathleen Falk, keeps it positive, at least with respect to her Democratic rivals.

• Remember the unemployed worker whose wife appeared at an Obama town hall? The President said he would help the man find a job. That’s the thing about promises, you have to prepare for backlash when they don’t work out.

• I think it’s a bit of a reach to blame credit card swipe fees for some of the run-up in gas prices. But it’s true that credit card swipe fees were untouched and now cost merchants far more to process than debit cards. And they do pass that cost on to customers.

• What’s with Tim Tebow leading Easter services, now? What exactly gives him the credentials to do this? Believing? Incidentally, he parroted the “America is a Christian nation” nonsense in this speech.